Well, Well… Lots to take in because I’ve not posted in here for quite a while, and wasn’t sure if I would again after the grief I copped on what was a shameful day on here. So, I guess this is a “Talk My Shit” post, with some occasional sass. A word vomit, and me speaking to my observations of the current state of affairs, while figuring out where I’m at currently. How’s that successor been, by the way? What do you mean “you’re none the wiser” yet? Let’s examine the receipts. Well, they aren’t mere receipts, or even a bank statement. We’re in transaction history territory at this point…
No DF/EuroGamer reveal at this point…
Switch successor still doesn’t have a confirmed name…
No official acknowledgment of a successor from Nintendo or Nvidia at this point…
No leaks from manufacturing companies…
Switch titles still have unconfirmed release dates…
No further official word from the horse’s mouth or publishers about the successor’s power bracket…
16GB RAM isn’t “overly optimistic” now that Nate, Necro, and selected Internet “Influencers” (Never mind official social media accounts!!) tell people what to think…
Is Yours Truly still on track and on point?
Would everybody do well to listen to their angelic dyspraxic friends once in a while?
Is it time to get my petty on, and let the choppers sing?
Not quite, but you’re dead right I’ve got my tune prepared, and let me tell you, no birds were involved in the musicianship…
Are we already in February 2024 without a Switch successor announcement? Happy New Year to the lurkers who don’t post, by the way (Is it still “New”, even? January was a long year, so they say…), and Welcome Back, Old Pucker… I’ve been one of you (lurkers) since this past November, when I said that it wouldn’t release in the first half of the year for logical reasons, and that Late 2024 (Not before October) was the earliest most probable release date - PS5 Pro rumours are wholly irrelevant to this, just like the Base Edition for the entirety of its generation. It turned out that Investor Meetings really AREN’T Directs, that there were more questions about their hit movie, that one still has to follow the software, and one doesn’t need a rumour mill to find a semblance of a clue after all… So, Yeah… Late 2024 at the earliest, and Spring 2025 isn’t off the table, should developers need more time. Still, we can never understate or underestimate the impact of a pandemic (which isn’t over), no matter how much politicians of certain persuasions want to assure us it is.
So, Where does a successor need to be, both to achieve growth on current success, and to be fit for a generational purpose?
16GB RAM (LPDDR5. I’m less concerned about this than others, and suspect it’ll be fine. But I’ve made the case for it since 2022, and was the first one on here to do so… I got shouted down quite a few times for making wholly reasonable points, rather than ones based on rumour mills and nebulous hope. That’s BEFORE getting to the fact that contemporary portables have this, phones will, too, and neither Nintendo nor Nvidia are oblivious to this…)
UFS 3.0 or above (128GB or 256GB most probable, 512GB not unthinkable - I pointed out that this was pre-pandemic tech, still quick, and with room to be better than that)
660MHz portable (cited on here), 1.38GHz home (cited on here - I don’t believe it’s a stress test considering what Nintendo actually did on the Switch in 2017, under much worse conditions. Then there’s the fact that Nintendo hasn’t prioritised higher battery life since the DS Lite outside of revisions, only a satisfactory point - Existing Switch titles could probably get a battery life performance boost, too, but I suspect that the words “Up To” will do a lot of work there…)
A78C octa-core CPU @ 2GHZ+ (2.2GHz, if precise - that puts the clock speed in the same ~62% bracket as its predecessor relative to the PS4, while not falling short or wasting its potential. Single-cluster design choice also has advantages in power consumption and performance).
5nm lithography process (Nvidia has a custom production line for it. Lovelace starts from there, and it’s been known that the SoC was developed alongside Lovelace products since 2021. “But Angel, it’s Ampere!!” - Stop. It clearly has Lovelace elements, too, and will most probably launch on the same lithograph. It’s a CUSTOM chip, meaning it’s its own thing. I’ll call it Amperada…).
Cosmetic 4K support (XB1/PS4 games should hit that easily enough, but I suspect “Up To” will do some heavy lifting once more, and PS5/XS games would be mostly 1080-1440p after DLSS)
Unconvinced of a 120hz screen, BUT believe any 120FPS mode would be in home mode only, anyway. However, I suspect that most will take this trade-off for the “play anywhere” experience.
$399/€399/£349 (I never believed in a “Switch Pro” because there were logical reasons why it was never going to happen. However, When the OLED Model launched, I felt that one motivation for it was to get the userbase prepared for the idea of a $399 Nintendo console).
What gimmick will it have? I’ve thought for some time that the stylus could make a comeback because we still have the DS and 3DS libraries, AND games such as Art Academy still to make an appearance. Think among the lines of the Galaxy Note/S2x Ultra S-Pen, and you have a familiar, but handy gimmick and point-and-click option with motion controls, or even an alternative keyboard and mouse option if used with a single Joy-Con. I would imagine it comes with the system in an integrated silo, same as the Wii U, DS and 3DS. Also, it could be something you could use to sign off a digital purchase, navigate the eShop, etc… I can definitely see something like that in the future, but it would be reformed to work with capacitive screens, instead of the resistive ones if the DS and 3DS.
I feel the above is realistic for an industry-leading portable platform releasing in 2024 and beyond, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if GTA6 appears. I believe Nintendo wants that game on their console, and that they will endeavour to deliver on that goal. I also believe that RDR2 is a formality, and RDR3 is the aspiration. However, the hardware choices above are the difference between a confident certainty, being embarrassingly late to the party on the successor’s successor, much like they were with Minecraft, Fortnite, Rocket League, etc., and turning a 140m+ hit into one that can push closer to 200m, or, at least, eclipse the PS2’s lifetime sales with ease. I’ve been shot down for daring to expect something better in a speculation thread, but nothing I wrote on here was based on a nebulous hope, and I’ve always said if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. That’s life. But you know what else didn’t happen? “Switch Pro” didn’t happen. No successor was announced or released in 2023, and while we’re at it, we can stick a fork in H1 2024 because that, too, is done. So, I guess that’s where I’m at, and so far, almost everything I’ve said has played out in real time. However, I’m no industry insider, and I don’t actually follow many people in it on the socials. I wasn’t sure if I would post here again, but I guess it’ll be easier now I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve had to block just to feel safe and comfortable. Not sure, but we’ll see how it goes this time around. Anyhoo, I said what I said, and if anybody takes issue with a fellow user speculating in a speculation thread, feel free to reciprocate the Ignore - I did say this was a word vomit and “talk my shit” post. If you enjoyed my insights and previous posts, I’m still on the socials. Feel free to follow me there. Whatever. As You Were.